Remarkable

We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. It seems wrong to call it an anniversary as if it is something to celebrate. I can’t imagine what the journey has been like this past year for the families, the friends, first responders and the town. Neither can you. No one can fully imagine what is has been like to live the months, weeks, days, minutes since the shootings. Unless you have made that journey you can’t know. Thankfully not many of us have had to make such a horrific journey.

I do admit I wonder. I wonder how people are coping. What must the process be like for siblings who lost a brother or sister? How do parents who lost a child let their surviving children out of their sight? How have marriages survived this horror. But with all my wondering I did not need or what to hear the newly released 911 calls from Sandy Hook that day last December. I am incensed that they were made public under some “freedom of information” act. Freedom for who? Has our need for information become so perverse that we author more trauma to the families left behind. I can imagine driving in the car with my child and turning on the radio to suddenly find myself hearing this tapes. Awful. Unnecessary. If thinking about last December brings sadness to my mind, what must it do for those left behind? Why must those left worry about one more assault to their lives and families.

I was struck, last December, when one parent, Robbie Parker, choose to come out to speak to the media. He wanted the world to know about his daughter Emilie who died. He was articulate, struggling to speak but honoring his small daughter. I’ve been reading a blog his wife started sometime after the shootings. It is theparkerfive.wordpress.com This week there were two postings, one by Alissa, one by Robbie. One was titled One Year. The other was titled, Evil Did Not Win. The way they have shared their journey is remarkable. Their journey of forgiveness, and search for wholeness for their surviving children is inspiring.

I honor the Parkers and all the families that lost loved ones. Peace to the memory of those killed, young and old alike.